THE FRIENDSHIP OF RIVALRY

Notes:

Disclaimer - I do not own the setting of Harry Potter or any of the characters; those are the property of J.K. Rowling. I have however added a few new names, given that this story is centered on the time after Harry and Draco have graduated. The plot is entirely mine.

This story is a male x male slash so please don't read it if you don't like to read these types of fanfics. For those who do not know, male x male slash is when the story is told around the relationship of two boys or guys, meaning this is a gay fanfic settled around the main characters of the story.

Key:

"Thoughts"

"Speech"

Chapter 11: From foes to friends (Remus)

Remus found himself deep in thought as he walked towards his room. His mind was reeling as he tried to make sense of everything that had happened this morning. He didn't expect to wake up healed by Harry though, that much was certain.

He wondered how Harry and Draco had been able to hold up against his werewolf form, but they seemed to have managed. A part of him worried whether he should have checked for bites, but they had both looked fine. He had been mostly out of it if he had to be honest with himself, but they wouldn't have hidden any wounds from him, that much was certain.

What had shocked him the most though, was the thought that he would have to work with Severus while they helped Harry and Draco with their case. He didn't personally have anything against the man, but it brought up certain memories that he rather would have left buried in the past since it would be impossible to go back to how things were at that time. It still plagued him that he'd been the one to cause the problems between them though. He would do anything if he knew they could be friends again

They had made peace between them a long time ago and Remus had found himself drawn to how Severus seemed to adapt to whatever situation life tended to throw at him. Even James and Sirius had stopped bullying Severus once they realized that a certain friend of theirs had feelings for the raven haired boy and as always Peter had just followed along silently without taking part in any of the crazy pranks.

It didn't take long however for his feelings to grow into something unexpected and he had found himself avoiding Severus more and more. Most people would have blamed James and Sirius for breaking their friendship, but in truth, it had been Remus himself. He had been too scared to face Severus about his lycanthropy once he'd recognized his feelings and so he had avoided the raven haired man as much as possible.

Granted, he had tried to contact Severus once he realized that Severus already knew about his… affliction, and accepted him despite the poison running through his veins, he had been too late. He'd seen the Death Eater's mark as soon as he tried to corner Severus in his room after a shower and that had broken both of them. Remus had known that the mark had barely been a few hours old because of the red inflamed skin around the mark and it had infuriated him.

Instead of recognizing the pain and anguish in Severus' eyes that needed him to comfort him, Lupin had turned his back on him and fled. He knew it had been a cowardly thing to do, but he'd only felt his own pain at that moment. He had been unable to understand why the person he cared for wanted to fight for his enemy.

He could still clearly remember his heart begging him to go back and make things right that one night, but self-pity had won him over. His mind had forced him to realize a while later that Severus would never willingly take the mark if he didn't have to, but it had been too late to return to the point they had once been at.

Remus stumbled into his room without even closing his door and fell on the bed. Harry might have healed him, but his magic and his mind were still exhausted from the shift.

Familiar footsteps entered his room and Remus felt his breath hitch slightly. The smell of several different potions ingredients alerted him to the fact that the footsteps belonged to Severus.

Remus wanted to speak to him, but he knew he would be unable to find the words that could make things right between them. So he just pretended to sleep as the potions master placed a few potions next to his bed.

This was their routine after each full moon. Remus would stumble back to his room in pain and Severus would silently bring the potions he needed to heal. No words were ever spoken between them even though Remus suspected that Severus knew that he was awake.

The footsteps seemed to linger next to his bed before silently making their way to the door and Remus found that he couldn't keep silent any longer. "Thank you, Severus."

The footsteps stopped just inside the door, but they lingered only a moment before he heard the sound of the door being closed. Remus closed his eyes in pain at being ignored until his mind slowly registered that Severus had softly replied to him before he shut the door.

"You're welcome, Remus." The words made his heart ache as his eyes opened and he looked towards the tiny piece of blue sky that could be viewed from his window. It felt nice to know that he'd been able to finally say something to Severus, but it reminded him that they had not voluntarily spoken to each other in many years.

Remus knew that he would have to try and fix things between them while they helped Harry and Draco with their mission, but there was a very real possibility that Severus would refuse to forgive him.

"Maybe it would be better if they find someone else to help in my place? I mean, as much as I would like to be able to work with him and talk to him again, I might as well face the fact that I have waited too long to apologize."

It's true that the case was actually given to Harry and Draco, but they would unfortunately not understand why Severus wouldn't want to work with him. Remus might have to use all the courage he could get, but it was the only way he could think of to show that he was sorry.

His entire body seemed to sag in relief as the tension disappeared from his body at the decision. He sat up and drank the potions before lying back down and turning onto his side. Severus must have known which potions Harry had given him because he'd only brought a dreamless sleep potion, a pepper-up potion, and a potion to relieve pain. He left the pepper-up potion for later since he really would need it then. His decision finally allowed him to fall into a peaceful sleep.

A few hours later, Remus found himself in front of Severus' room. His hand was frozen mid-air as a battle of reason occurred in his mind. A part of him wanted to just knock and get the everything over and done with, while another part of him reasoned that he should go back to his room and forget the whole thing, or maybe just think about it a little more.

"If I didn't know any better, I would actually think I'm a coward." Remus flinched and dropped his hand. "Maybe he's busy? I can always come back later. He usually brews important potions on the days he doesn't have class, so it would be better if I talk to him tomorrow. I wouldn't want him to blame me if a potion gets ruined."

He stepped back and turned to walk down the corridor, but a huge explosion sounded up behind him. His heart hammered loudly in his chest as he realized that it had come from Severus' room. He turned and ripped open the door without a second thought.

Smoke covered the entire room, making it hard to see and Remus quickly cast a barrier spell to stop the smoke from escaping out the door. He didn't know what potion the smoke came from, so it was better to be safe than to risk bypassing students inhaling any harmful fumes. He also cast a barrier spell around himself as he moved past the barrier at the door in order to search for Severus.

He searched the entire room but found no sign of Severus or the potion. A door to his right indicated that the potion might be in the next room and he swallowed nervously. He knew the door led to Severus' living and sleeping quarters and he had no idea why the potions master would brew a potion there unless it was either very important or illegal.

He was willing to bet on both since the potions master frequently took up the challenge of brewing long-forgotten potions that could just as easily kill the maker as it would the target, hence the illegal part. And the only people who would request such potions, would be those who could afford to pay the price, hence the very important part.

Remus crossed the room and hesitated at the door that led to the rest of Severus' quarters. "He probably knew that the potion would react like it did and if that's the case then he would have cast a barrier spell around him in preparation. If he found me bursting into his rooms unannounced in that case, then he might get angry. He would probably then think that I'm questioning his abilities." Remus cringed at the thought. He really didn't want to make Severus angry, but he couldn't help but think about what would happen if the explosion was in fact, an unforeseen accident.

Remus took a deep breath before slowly opening the door. He would rather face an angry Snape and receive the assurance that he was okay than walk away and find out he'd gotten hurt.

The smoke made it hard to see as he walked into the room, but he immediately spotted the cauldron where the explosion originated. Smoke was still pouring out of the cauldron and the potion inside it seemed to evaporate in order to form the smoke.

He didn't really pay attention to the rest of the room since he couldn't see Severus anywhere. Instead, he walked closer to the cauldron. "I've never heard of a potion that evaporates like that before. Maybe Severus was experimenting with something? He's good at creating new potions so that could be it, but where is he?"

Remus turned around, but before he could move towards another room, two hands grabbed him and he found himself pulled into a barrier much stronger than his own. He felt his heart jump into his throat as he came face-to-face with a very angry Snape.

"What are you doing in here Remus? You should know better than to enter my rooms when I'm working on potions. Do you know how easily you could have fallen into a coma if you breathed in this smoke?" Severus paused in his rant and Remus was shocked to see that the raven-haired professor had actually been worried about him. "At least you had enough sense to place a barrier around you before you entered the room, now stand still while I bottle up the potion fumes."

With a wave of his wand, Severus started guiding the fumes into bottles and then closing each bottle with a cork. The smoke in the air cleared with every bottle he filled and soon enough the room was clear again. Remus still didn't move however because he knew better than to move before Severus told him it was safe to do so.

Sure enough, the potions professor cleared the room by sending a sweeping breeze through it before dispelling the air in order to make it disappear.

The barrier was taken down and Remus now found himself facing a very irritated raven. Remus flinched again, but this time it was because he had only seen Severus this angry once and that was back in their school days when he'd just barely made it out of the Forbidden forest alive after teasing the centaurs on a dare.

Severus had been so mad because of his stupidity that he completely ignored Remus for an entire month after telling him that he didn't deserve people who cared about him if he tried to court death at every turn.

Granted, it had been a very stupid dare and he still carried the scars from the assault, but he thought it had been worth the risk at the time. Especially after James mentioned that Severus would think he's brave if he completed it successfully. But after seeing what a very angry Snape looked like, he'd promised himself to never follow a dare ever again.

"Well, Remus? Care to explain yourself?" Remus took a deep breath at Severus' words before he looked him directly in the eye. "I should just as well tell him everything now. I might not get another chance."

"I didn't mean to barge in, Severus. I came here to talk to you about something but I decided to rather not bother you today. I heard an explosion coming from your room as I turned to walk away and I immediately thought that you got hurt…" Remus could see that Severus was about to interrupt him, so he held up his hand to silence him.

"Yes, I know you're a potions master and no I don't think you're incompetent. I just reacted on instinct instead of thinking things through." Severus raised an eyebrow at his words and Remus laughed awkwardly at the action. It felt strange talking to Severus again, but it felt good even though the potions master was a little angry at the moment.

"I came to tell you that I can ask Harry and Draco to find someone different in my place if you think that we would be unable to work together. I'm sorry about my thoughtlessness in the past and I didn't want to make things awkward for you if you were forced to work with me. I'm really sorry that I ran away that time without helping you. I was selfish and I only thought about my own feelings instead of being able to be there when you needed me. I missed our friendship throughout these years, but I was too scared to apologize and to then get rejected by you."

Silence descended between them and Remus started fidgeting as Severus made no move to either accept or reject his apology. His mind felt numb as he realized that he had practically blurted out almost all of his feelings because of his nervousness and now his fate hung on whatever was going through Snape's mind at the moment.

Five minutes of silence passed in between them and every passing second that he waited for the answer, made the pain he felt in his heart, grow. It was one thing to believe that his apology would get rejected, but it was another thing entirely when it actually really happened.

A few more seconds ticked by and finally Remus found that he couldn't wait any longer. It was obvious that Severus was trying to find the right words to reject his apology, and even though he wished that the potions master would just come out and say it, he would apparently not get his way.

Remus straightened himself before he nodded stiffly to Severus. "I guess you've already made up your mind to reject my apology. You don't have to sugarcoat it; I already suspected that this would be your reaction. I'm sorry that I waited so long to apologize, please tell Draco and Harry to let me know once they find someone to help in my place." Remus walked out of the room as fast as he could. His movement seemed to jolt Severus out of his frozen state since he could hear Snape rushing to catch up to him while urgently calling his name.

But Remus ignored him and focused on getting back to his rooms instead. He still had a few days to recover his strength, but that didn't mean he could just sit around all day, he still had some research to do. He grabbed a book and made his way to his favorite seat at the window.

He didn't even have enough time to open the book, however, because his door was suddenly thrown open and an even angrier Severus than the one he'd left behind, grabbed onto his collar. He was forced to stand and Remus was about to push him away, but the raven-haired man refused to let him do anything other than to pay attention to his words.

"You don't know how close I am to hexing you at this very moment Remus! How dare you come into my quarters and expect me to calmly forgive you when you suddenly find yourself able to apologize after so many years? Did it even occur to you that it would take a while for your words to sink in? For Merlin's sake, did you actually manage to lose half your brain during that transformation of yours? And if that isn't enough you suddenly decide to play martyr by telling me that you will step down and find someone else I can work with to solve the case. Who do you think that would be? Do you think that idiotic groundkeeper would be able to handle the job? Maybe we should ask the deputy headmaster or maybe even the headmistress herself?"

Snape visibly trembled in his anger as his rant continued. "The fact is that no-one will be able to work better together than the two of us combined. Yes, it may have been many years since we last worked together due to your stupidity, but I accept your apology. Now if you would only promise to start thinking things through before you act, I might forgive you for your apparent lack of good judgment. But this doesn't mean that I will forget about it entirely."

Remus could only nod as his mind registered Severus' words. He really hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Snape usually refused to explain himself and in essence, his emotions and Remus would always wonder what his family situation was like. He didn't like the fact that he upset the potions master so much that he even revealed certain details about himself, but it felt good to know that they would be working together again.

Severus let go of his robes and Remus found himself swiftly sitting down on a couch with Severus opposite him. He started to speak, although the air around them still felt very awkward. "I guess this means we will have to work on our strategy." A faint nod was all he received in reply.

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